6| Closets

Chapter 6

Alessio

I slam my fist against his face. His blood coats the entirety of my fist."You son of a bitch," I curse. I drop his unconscious body to the ground and pull out my gun. I make no hesitation in shooting him and moving on to the next target. He's lucky, I waited to kill him until he was asleep.

"Alessio, the target is in the back room. He's guarded with what seems to be ten people. Five, on the outside and five on the inside," Odella says over the earpiece. I duck under a nearby table and reload my two guns when I see a group of targets come around the corner. Blood from the numerous people who appeared in my way covers not only my fist but my clothes as well-a horror show I am. I wipe my brow and suck in a breath.

I can still hear their screams, begging for me not to kill them. It's not enough, I need more. The intense screams I caused make the haunting sounds of Alice's die out. Her cries haunt my very dreams, sending chills down my spine in the quietest times.

"He's close," I hear in my ear. I don't care how close the target is. I don't care how important this mission is. It's only target practice, physical therapy after losing my child, leaving a shell of her mother with me.

So, I will kill and give the pain to them even if it will take away the pain for a bit.

So everyone in my wake will die.

I reload my two guns and take in a deep breath. I'm wearing nothing but dark clothing to blend into the night, but with this much blood on my face, it doesn't matter what I wear. I raise one gun and keep the other tucked in my back pocket. There are three men ahead of me, and I make no haste in shooting each of them. I make sure to hit them in the middle of the head, ensuring their deaths.

I grab the assault rifle slung over one of their dead body and take it for my own. "Where is he?" I hear from a distance.

"Right here," I shout. The last two inside the building turn towards me, and I let out a series of bullets towards them, with no hesitation at all. I watch as they hold their guns-hoping that they can muster enough strength to get revenge, but there is none left. They stop breathing, with their eyes still wide, staring at me.

I should feel something about their corpses, but I can not. I can't feel anything-remotely close to grief for someone like this. They do not matter to me, and I do not care. They're just subjects that have curbed Alice's screams that have been ringing in my head for the last few months.

"Where is the target?" I ask Odella.

"Inside, the door in front of you-with five others." I suck in my breath and check the assault rifle for ammo. There's only half a clip left, but it's enough. I let out a low breath and kick the door open.

I'm faster than the rest. One shot, after another, the bullets go through the goons in the main room. The boss is behind them, with his own weapon raised. I shoot through everyone, using the furniture to cover myself. The five men quickly turn into zero, leaving just me and the target in front of me.

He shakes as he stares at me. "Who sent you? Whatever they are paying you. I'll double it...no triple it." He looks to be a simple man. But, if you took a look into who he really is. He is sick, disgusting-disturbed. Odella would claim I jumped for joy when I read over his case and how high security he is.

The more bloodshed, the better as of late.

He shakes in his iron-clad suit and looks up at me as if I am the hunter, the killer, but he's worse than I am. He's known to profit off of children's suffering, and he offers me money-dirty at that.

I press the gun to his temple.

"You know you can offer me all the money in the world, and I still would do this," I inform him. He watches me pull the trigger with so much horror that even my eyebrow twitches. One moment tears are coming down, and the next, he's falling to the ground dead in a pool of his brains and blood. I wipe off the remnants of his blood on my shirt.

"I'm all finished. What's the next mission?" I ask Odella.

"Um...I- give me a moment, sir," I hear before a series of keyboard clanks. Odella is good at her job, so good that she now acts as an interim computer tech person for me and Leo. As of late, she has been able to hack into cameras and set up new missions for me and others to do. She's not changing street lights or hacking into bank statements yet.

But she's good enough for now. She is good enough to give me a heads up on how many people I will kill today.

"Odella, please hurry. I'm ahead of schedule, and I told Alice I wouldn't be back fo-" A squeak stops me from finishing my statement. I cock my gun at the opening closet.

A child?

She holds a gun in her hands. She lacks the shake that someone her age would have to hold such a heavy gun in her hands. This isn't her first time being eye to eye to a potential killer. She lacks fear in her eyes as she stares at me. There's not a single tear or even a hint of hesitation if she needs to kill me, she will get it done.

She will kill me if I hesitate or give her a chance.

"Who are you," I say with my gun still aimed at her.

"None of your concern dickhead," she says. She presses her finger onto the trigger. Before she can shoot, I shoot first, narrowly missing her head. She falters back giving me enough time to approach her.

I will not shoot a kid. I will not hurt her, in the way so many people have hurt me when I was her age. Her gun is now on the ground, and her eyes widen at the realization as to what she did. Anyone else would have taken this small opportunity to do the absolute worse to her.

When I shot, I expected her to drop the gun. I've done it before, it's instinct.

She can look as fearless as possible, but she is still a child, and every child has the same reaction when almost dying. She drops the gun, and I make long strides to approach her. Her nose is flared, and she refuses to look away from me. Her eyes go to the gun that I'm gripping ever so tightly.

She takes a step back. "Do it," she says with grit teeth. "Kill me."

She doesn't seem to care about the bodies around us. She only cares about herself, she eyes the room, and there's nowhere for her to escape. No small crevice or some smart way I could end up on the ground with my own gun to my head.

I could kill her easily. She must be thinking.

"What is your name?" I ask.

"Who's asking?" She says through grit teeth. She looks down at the gun, and I kick it aside.

"Alessio," I say.

She looks shocked at my response. "Aria," she mumbles. "My name is Aria."

I feel my usual breathing stop at her name. "Aria," I repeat. "How old are you?"

"Why? Got, a taste for kids sicko?"

"No, I'm just curious as to how young the bastard prefers his wo- girls," I correct myself.

Aria's eyes widen, at the realization as to what I said. She didn't know he was a pedophile. If so, she wouldn't even be here. "Twelve," she mutters. "I'm twelve."

"Any parents?"

"No," she answers immediately.

"Aunts? Uncles? Grandparents? A guardian." She looks over at the dead body.

"You can say he was the closest thing to one this week." This week. She's a drifter child. I scan her for any malnourishment. She looks healthy enough like she eats every day. Her clothes aren't a tattered mess, and she looks to have showered today at least. She's in better shape than I was and even has bigger fish to mooch off of when I was twelve.

She's a survivor and a good one at that.

"Where do you live?"

"Look, I'm not going to say who you are. And I will act like I never saw you," she announces. She knows I won't kill her. She can see it in the way I've long lowered my gun without realizing. I watch as she goes to under my newest target's desk, not caring about his rotting body.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I'm not getting a gun, obviously. He just owed me some money, and I need to collect." I go around the desk with her. She is crouching over a safe and a few clicks of a button, and it's open. It's filled to the brim with cash, which she gladly pockets. She doesn't take much, only two thousand-more than enough for a person her age.

She looks over at me, "thanks for not killing me dude," she says before walking through the carnage that no child should not see or frankly be used to, to the extent she is.

"Sir, um...who was that?" Odella asks over the mic.

"I have no idea. But, I want you to find out."

"Yes, sir and I wanted to inform you that there's another mission about two hours out." She doesn't bother telling me about the pay or simply saying something like I need to rest. I cannot rest-resting means I have to sit in my own thoughts. Thoughts I much rather be without.

Thoughts like Alice and Annabella.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

While Alice wallows, Alessio kills.

How healthy of them...

And what do you think about Aria? Me? I personally love her, and can't wait to develop her more.

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I hope you guys have a super, amazing, splendid, awesome day, night, evening, and afternoon.

Bye~